


Blind to the Stench of Decay

by Starlit Flower (skyrocks3)



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-07-25 19:03:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20030821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyrocks3/pseuds/Starlit%20Flower
Summary: After Clementine and her friends narrowly escape the Delta with their lives, Clementine now must learn to deal with her newfound limitations. When old friends and family appear at the gates, no one realizes they brought trouble with them until it’s too late.





	1. Chapter 1

## Chapter 1  
Notes: Clem was captured instead, Episode 4 plays out basically the same but Clem loses her eyes when she wouldn’t give up the last of her friends.

Darkness. one of the few constants left in Clementine’s life, and it was maddening. There was no better way she could think of to describe it. The blind brunette huffs as she stares up at the ceiling of her dorm, reminiscing over the past few days that had lead to now. Getting captured by Lilly, and being stabbed in the eyes by Minerva amid her first and only escape attempt. Clementine had found herself in full meltdown mode when the remaining not captured school members had successfully rescued her, little to their surprise given what had happened.

She didn’t know or care if Lilly were alive or dead, so long as she never had to see her again. The only solace she had found after the whole ordeal was learning from Louis that the evil bitch Minerva had been torn apart by walkers during the escape. Clementine would have rathered having the chance to shoot the traitorous red head herself, but fate hadn’t dealt her the hand she entirely wanted. Thus forcing her to live with what she had.

Giving up on stewing on the past for now, Clementine gets up and stretches. “AJ? You still here?” she asks. Upon getting no response from his side of the room, she assumes that he already got up for breakfast early. Walking over to her bedside table, she feels around till she grabs hold of her blindfold. Assuming that she’s already very late for breakfast given her tendency to sleep in a lot, Clementine quickly ties off her blindfold in its place and leaves her room, running into someone just outside her door in the process. The person in question yelps in surprise and Clementine instantly recognizes it as Violet. “Jesus, sorry Clem. I didn’t think you’d be up yet.” the blonde quickly apologizes. “Well I guess I decided to grace everyone with my presence a little earlier.” Clem jokes. Violet smiles slightly. “You hungry?” Violet asks. “Starving.” The brunette responds. Violet leads Clementine out of the dorms towards their waiting, and probably now cold breakfast. “I hope Omar’ll be in the mood to reheat breakfast.” Clem says as her stomach loudly complains of it’s emptiness. Violet snorts at this, knowing Omar and his obsession with cooking. “He’s such a damn perfectionist he’d reheat any meal in a heartbeat, and still try to find some way to make it better than it already is.” Violet says with a small smile. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

...

“Ed, I don’t know how much farther I can keep going like this.” “We have to Di, we’ll find food somewhere soon.” He readjusts his backpack as he continues onward through the woods, his wife following silently. Ed could almost feel her glare burning though the back of his head. Both of their moods had been rather foul when they ran low on food a few days earlier and were forced to extreme rationing. They knew how far this world would go to keep everyone fed or even survive. With the dangerously low amount of food and water they had, Ed knew at in the end if they didn’t find food, it would likely tear them apart. Simply from the need to survive. It was an unnerving and depressing thought for the couple, just like losing their daughter. Not knowing if she were dead or alive, or where to look if she were alive.

...


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Garcia family has had it relatively good in the New Frontier for the past few years. Now they find themselves on the road yet again.

Chapter 2

Javier could barely believe the situation he and the remainder of his family were in. The years since his rise to leadership in New Richmond had been prosperous ones. Plenty of food and water, great trade relationships with a few nearby groups, and they had been able to expand the community by a considerable distance. But all it took to tear down any community no matter how strong, was a large enough horde of meurtos, or people. In this case they had faced the former, and lost terribly. Even with most of the town fighting, they just kept coming until they’d overrun the town for a second time, but with what appeared to be double the numbers than previously. When it became painfully clear that New Richmond was lost, Javier had decided to put his family first and escaped with Gabe and David in one of the town’s armored SUV’s. Now it was hours later and they were seemingly in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by trees, and to make matters worse? They were out of gas.

“Looks like this is as far as we’re going. Lets grab what we have and keep going on foot.” Javi said a moment after the vehicle rolled to a stop.

“For once I agree Javi,” David said in a voice that Javi could tell he was trying very hard to conceal his tiredness. “The more distance between us and the meurtos behind us before nightfall, the better.”

As the three of them gathered the little supplies and weapons they had, leaving the SUV behind, Gabe spoke up, “Javi? Where exactly are we going?”

“I dunno for sure..” came his reply after a moment of silence. Javi wouldn’t have had much of a plan even if he had one to begin with. They definitely had to find somewhere to hide to wait out the horde constantly behind them. Which wouldn’t seem too difficult if only they knew where they were. To top that off, Javi was mostly certain that their combined stock of food would only last a few days at most.

“Whatever we do, we shouldn’t stay on the road out in the open forever” David said matter of factly. “I’ve heard of unsuspecting groups being gunned down by bandits in the past out on open roads.”

This causes Gabe to look around at the darkening forest around them nervously. The speed in which his head turned giving away his apprehension to the idea of what his father just said. “That was back in Richmond right? Do you really think bandits would be waiting days for people to show up all the way out here in the middle of nowhere?” Gabe responds with a slight edge in his voice, gesturing around them.

Javi wants to reassure Gabe that nothing would happen to them, but that would be unrealistic at best in the middle of the apocalypse. He knew it would be better for them to play it safe than sorry and get off the open road for now, at least until they found a new group or more ammunition. ”We can leave the road when we get to that bridge ahead of us.” Javi says, beginning to feel the exhaustion seeping into his limbs as well. “I think I hear a river. Maybe we can make camp for the night down by it and hopefully stay out of sight from the road.”

“Sounds like a plan to me. I’m exhausted.” David says, apparently giving up on hiding his exhaustion.

A moment later they reach the bridge and cut off into the woods down towards the river. As they come out of the trees, Javi’s jaw drops a little at a sight none of them had been expecting.

Before them in the water rested a large shipwreck that appeared to be nearly half submerged, almost on it’s side. Burned pieces of what used to be the dock are scattered haphazardly around the beach among other debris. David is the first to come to his senses. “The hell is this Javi? This ship looks like it got sunk fairly recently..” David says. Javi can tell that the gears in his head are turning, trying to estimate how much salvageable supplies could be in the shipwreck.

“How can you tell from this distance?” Javi asks sounding skeptical of his brother’s statement.

“Military, remember?” David replies with the barest hint of irritation, as if the reason were obvious.

“Do you think it’s safe enough to loot?” Gabe questions, looking around at the destruction littered over the beach between them and the partially turned over boat. His expression made it clear that he thinks it could sink completely at the slightest wrong move.

“An explosion like what probably sank this thing probably drew in a herd of meurtos as well.” Javi says thoughtfully.

“Looks like they’re long gone now, can’t say for sure we won’t run into some on that wreck though.” David says as he starts walking near the boat, Javi and Gabe trailing behind him, still a little unsure about trying to loot the unstable looking vessel.

“We should loot it once it’s light enough to see. Lets set up camp.” Javi says as he drops his bag at a nearby spot on the edge of the beach to sleep.

“We’ll need a fire to keep warm. Gabriel, go get some of the dock driftwood around the beach.” David says as he drops down, resting against a tree.

Once Gabe is down the beach gathering wood out of earshot, Javi turns to David. “A boat of that size could definitely hold at least a small community’s worth of people alone. So it’s gotta be from a bigger community somewhere in this area.”

David thinks about it for a moment before speaking, “I dunno how that’d help us much Brother. We wouldn’t know where to start looking for them, and it doesn’t look like there were any survivors from that scrapheap in the end anyway.”

Gabe runs back over to them with a pile of wood in his arms, dropping it. “Dad! Javi! I found.. somebody.. They need help.” He says quickly, clearly out of breath. This jolts both David and Javi awake and they scramble to their feet.

“Javi, this could be a trap for all we know.” David says as they chase after Gabe down the beach.

“Or it could actually be someone who needs help David. If we can help them then we should.” Javi counters. “It’s the right thing to do.”

David frowns, seeing that he appears to be outnumbered. “Don’t come crying to me if we get stabbed in the back for this.”

A moment later they reached the person Gabe had found, lying against a tree stump and unconscious. It was a girl, perhaps 18 or 19. The two things that Javi noticed first was the girl’s missing hand, and her fiery red hair covering one side of her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Betcha didn’t see that one coming.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis has a secret, but is absolutely terrible at lying. If it gets discovered, he fears he’ll lose his best friend.

Louis is a terrible liar. He’s known he’s been god awful at it for a long time too. Yet somehow against all odds, he had lied to his best friend’s face about the death of her ex girlfriend. Louis mentally kicks himself as he paces next to the piano he almost loves more than life itself. Minnie is still probably alive out there, and sooner or later Violet will find out about it. Then she’ll probably kick his ass for it. Louis had only ever seen Violet genuinely angry in his life less times than he has fingers, and an angry Violet is a very scary Violet to even be near. He sits at the piano bench and plants his forehead on the keys of the piano, groaning partly at how his situation is likely screwed no matter what he does, and partly at how bad the keys sounded that his forehead had played.

“Why did it have to be me?” the stressed pianist mutters in exasperation.

He looks up, hearing the door open and footsteps entering the room.

“Hey Lou, are you busy?” Violet asks and he quickly puts on a fake smile. Despite the blonde being his best friend, she’s the last person Louis wants to see because of the secret he holds. But thanks to her uncanny knack for smelling bullshit from a mile away, Violet would probably kill him long before his own guilt could.

“Uh yeah, I’m busy trying to write a new song..” His smile strains as he realizes that that’s definitely a terrible excuse, and that he has no blank music paper on the piano stand. Violet stares at Louis a few seconds, the look on her face enough for him to realize she saw right through him.

“Don’t bullshit me Louis. I know you well enough by now to tell when something’s bothering you. His face falls, a sad-looking expression on his face almost enough to make Violet cringe.

The look on his face is real enough that she starts to fear it’s an issue that’s actually serious, instead of something almost anyone else would consider genuinely stupid knowing how Louis could be at times.

“Did something happen Louis? Violet asks, a look of concern growing on her face as she walks up to him.

”What? No... nothing bad happened, nothing at all.” Louis says lamely.

Violet gives him one of her “I’m calling bullshit” looks and Louis gives up, seeing no way out now.

Louis looks straight into Violet's eyes. ”Okay… okay…. Minnie’s not dead! Or she wasn’t at least the last time I saw her..” Violet’s eyes go wide in shock. She takes a slow step back.

“W.. what did you say?” Vi asks, her voice almost a whisper.

Louis runs his hand through his dreads nervously, trying to mentally ready himself for his likely much deserved ass kicking. “Minerva is still alive Vi.. she didn’t get eaten. There weren’t even any walkers around last time I saw her.”

“Why did you lie to me Louis? To Clementine?” Violet asks with a betrayed yet accusatory tone.

“I’m sorry Vi, but it happened so fast! I ran into her in the woods on my way back and she said if I told anyone she was alive before she was ready to come back to the school that she’d personally make sure that I never speak again! After what she did to Clem.. I couldn’t help but believe she’d do it to me if it came down to it, and I panicked.” Louis pleads.

Violet couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Minnie was actually alive, and this asshole had the audacity let her believe her ex was dead? After what Minnie’s supposed death did to her the first time? No! Fuck him and his reasons! “You didn’t have to lie Louis. We could have protected you, just like we’ve protected each other.”

“I’m sorry for lying V...” Louis begins.

Something in the blonde snaps. “No! You don’t get to be sorry! You more than anyone else knows what Minnie’s disappearance did to me! I cried myself to sleep for weeks!” her voice breaks a little. “But you told me she was dead anyway..”

A look of shame and regret crosses Louis’s face. He tries to apologize somehow again but Violet holds up her hand stopping him. “We’re not talking about this, and ESPECIALLY not today after the bullshit you’ve pulled.” she hisses, trying to stop herself from crying in front of Louis. His heart plummets when he sees this. Violet clenches her fists and shuts her eyes tight for a moment before storming out of the room, taking every ounce of self control she had to not beat the shit out of her liar of a best friend here and now.

In her pain and anger, Violet doesn’t notice or really care where she’s going until she finds herself standing in front of the school’s graveyard. “I wish you all were still here, that things could have worked out... be better than the shit world we’re stuck in.” She looks down at the ground as a few tears manage to escape. 

A few minutes of quiet pass as the blonde pulls herself together, drying her tears on her sleeve and slipping back into the stone-cold loner persona she’d mastered a long time ago to mask her pain from the others. Next to Louis, Clementine was the only other person Violet felt she could let her walls down and open up too the most. Aasim was pretty good at giving advice. Willy was... Willy. And Ruby, Violet knew she’d try to help the best she could. But whenever the blonde ever came close to opening up to their only medic, she always got the feeling that Ruby would try to impose some sort of therapy sessions that’d probably be very similar to the ones she’d hated so much. God, she didn’t need or want anymore of those than she’d already had before being shipped off to Ericson’s. It was probably just her overthinking, but Violet tended to be very private about her past anyway for good reason. A sudden shout from the gate snaps her out of her train of thought.

“VIOLET! WE’VE GOT PEOPLE AT THE GATE!” Aasim yells towards her.

“Damn it..” Violet draws her gun and starts jogging towards the gate. All she wants to do by this point is spend the night with Clementine in the bell tower under the stars. But it was only the middle of the day, and with her luck something terrible would probably happen to prevent the event from happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longest chapter so far! I’ve got the next few chapters outlined and then I’ll go from there.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Garcias want help and information on groups in the area, but Minnie only trusts them enough to tell them some things, but not everything.

The first thing Minnie felt when she woke up was heat. Opening her eyes, she finds herself lying by a small campfire that she didn’t remember making, which confuses her considerably for a moment. Looking down at the place where her left hand used to be, Minnie sees that her bandages had changed. The rational side of her brain finally kicks, realizing that someone had found her. But why would they use their own resources on a complete stranger like her? Unless, no, there’s no way or chance any of the Delta survived the explosion and walker horde. There just couldn’t be! Minnie looks around her, starting to panic a little but seeing no one. Instead she spots a backpack a few feet away leaning against a tree. The red head weakly gets to her feet and moves to pick up the bag, determined to get away from whoever found her. She wouldn’t let them take her back, she couldn’t. Minnie slings the bag over her shoulder, stumbling a little. Damn, the amputation must have made her weaker than she thought. She almost starts walking away from the campfire when she hears a gun click behind her and freezes.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” David says in a stern, cold voice. “Drop the bag and turn around slowly.”

Minnie curses under her breath and lowers the bag back to the ground. Taking a breath, she changes her expression into the cold, neutral expression of a soldier following orders, one she’d mastered at maintaining over the year she’d been kept at the Delta. Turning around she sees David, gun aimed between her eyes. “Just let me leave. You’ll never have to see me again.”

David scoffs, “As if I’d just let you leave after I just used some of my own supplies to help you.” Minnie lets out an inner sigh of relief, that statement alone proving this man isn’t Delta. “Besides, I want information. You look like you have a lot of it.” Something about Minnie intrigues David. He knows a fellow soldier when he sees one, one who’s been through a war like him. David sees the same cold determination to survive in her eyes, but she can’t have gone through a war. She cant be older than 19!

“Why should I tell you anything when you have a gun aimed in my face?” Minnie retorts, glaring at David.

Javi pushes his way through the trees, hearing what Minnie just said. “David! What the hell are you doing? Put the gun down!”

“She decided to be ungrateful after what we did for her and tried to leave with your bag Javier. I told you we’d get backstabbed.” David says, not taking his eyes off Minnie. The red head doesn’t break eye contact either, having been forced to stare down the barrel of a gun more than enough times in the past.

“That doesn’t mean you have to shoot her!” Javi looks like he’s almost to the point of intervening.

“Well, I’d happily talk with you if I weren’t being held at gunpoint.” Minnie says with a now irritated expression.

“David, we need her help. You have to see that. Put your gun away before Gabe comes back from his side of the perimeter sweep.” Javi tries to reason.

After a moment of contemplation David relents, holstering his gun and crossing his arms. “Alright, start talking. Who are you?”

“Minerva, but my friends called me Minnie.” she replies, unsure if her friends still considered her a friend after all she’d done for or because of the Delta. Sophie, and Clementine on top of everything else. Minnie hadn’t wanted to do any of what she did. Any error made that was seen as disloyalty or disobedient was met with swift and brutal punishment which the red head came to fear very quickly. Anything she or Sophie tried to do, the punishment was brought down on one of them. She had the scars to prove it. Then when Sophie finally died at her hand for their latest insubordination attempt by escaping, Minnie lost her will to fight completely. Fearing that anything else she did would be brought back against her or her friends if she screwed up again. So she let herself be molded into the perfect soldier, following orders without question and with ruthless efficiency.

“Minerva? You ok?” Javi snaps his fingers in front of her face and she jumps a little.

“Huh? What?” she says a little startled.

“You kind of spaced out a minute there. I said you were talking in the past tense, does that mean your friends all.. died?” Javi replies, sounding a little bit uncomfortable asking someone he’s known less than 10 minutes if all of her friends were dead.

Minnie grimaces and shakes her head. “No, not everyone. But the rest of them, I’m not sure if they’d still consider me their friend.”

“Why’s that?” David asks.

Minnie tenses a little as she begins, a far off look in her eyes as if she’s remembering every little detail. “There’s a group out there called the Delta that kidnapped a few of my friends over the past few years. My sister Sophie and I were the first. They wanted to use us as fucking child soldiers in a war we wanted no part in.”

The disgust on Javi’s face is clear as day. “Who would do something like that to kids? Making them fight in their war?”

“Who were they up against?” David asks, trying to get as many details as he can.

“This war is still going on. Has been ever since they took my sister and I at least. And I’m not really sure. Some alliance of three other communities up north that’re close in proximity to eachother. The Delta knows that their enemies don’t kill kids, which in their mind makes them an effective tool.“ Minnie finishes with a hint of sadness in her voice.

Javi shakes his head in horror and disbelief. “Why don’t they rebel? Fight back and escape?”

Minnie slowly sits by the fire, staring at her boots. “They brainwash them. Make the kids do so many terrible things until they genuinely believe that the Delta can be their only home, and that no one else would accept them after what they’d done.” The red head pauses a moment to recollect herself. “Those who do rebel in any form either die or get beaten into submission through... various methods.”

Taking it all in, David assumes from Minnie’s vagueness that the unknown methods are especially brutal, and from how detailed a few of her descriptions had been, that she’d been a part of it at some point in the past.

Minnie falls silent. For a minute, the only noise to be heard is the crackling of the fire. Javi decides to break it. “Do you think your friends would be willing to take us in? At least for a little while?”

The red head shrugs in response. “I’m not sure really. Leadership has changed hands three times this month alone. They’d probably be very skittish since the only real interactions they’ve had with adults to my knowledge have been from Delta.”

Javi nods affirmatively. “We’ll just have to be careful and play our cards right.”

“I can show you the way if you’d like. Probably be faster too.” Minnie says, trying to climb to her feet, knowing that she wouldn’t last out here with only one hand. But she gets halted by Javi.

“No you don’t. You need rest like it or not. We can go tomorrow morning.” Javi says authoritatively. Minnie relents after a moment to think about it. She probably wouldn’t have made it very far in her current state anyway.

David stands up. “Guess it’s settled then. I’ll go find Gabe and update him on our situation.” He walks off into the trees in the direction Gabe had taken for his side of the perimeter patrol. Javi starts tossing sticks onto the fire, watching them burn as Minnie lies back down in her previous spot to try to sleep again. Despite it being the middle of the day, she’ has the feeling that she’ll need as much energy as possible in the next few days.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Violet could never have guessed that the new people at the gate would actually know one of the Troubled Youth. But the resulting reunion turns sour quickly as a recent conflict is brought to the newcomers attention.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprisingly I’m not dead. (Summer job gets hella busy sometimes and it kept throwing my writing groove) This story isn’t dying anytime soon. I’ve got chapters summarized through 11 so far. For my excess afk-ness, here’s an extra long-ish chapter! Enjoy!

When Violet arrives at the gate, she sees Aasim with his bow trained on a man and woman. Both of whom looked like they had little to no supplies, and hadn’t been eating much in recent days. But since every interaction the school had had with adults in the past, ranging from shitty to deadly, Violet didn’t trust first appearances for a second. She points her gun at the man. It’s clear that they’re a bit nervous about being held at gunpoint by two kids.

“Who are you two?” she asks in a cold tone. The man shifts on his feet a little before replying.

“I’m Ed, and this is Diana, my wife.” the man says calmly. “We didn’t mean to bother you, this place just looked abandoned from a distance. If you’ll just let us go we’ll be on our way.”

Violet instantly shakes her head. No more taking chances. Not anymore. “Get in, now.” The blonde opens the gate for them, gun lowered slightly as Ed and Diana carefully walk inside the walls of the school. “Follow me.” Violet says, gesturing with her gun towards the admin building. Everyone in the courtyard is watching the couple with expressions ranging from cautiousness to outright suspicion. The blonde notices that the two are glancing around a little wide eyed at the destruction and debris still littering the courtyard alongside the overturned tables and walker heads still on their respective pikes. She’s frankly overjoyed when they don’t start barraging her with questions about it all, saving her a lot of explanations she definitely isn’t in the mood for. Violet leads Ed and Diana upstairs and into her office.

“It looks like you kids have had it hard.” Ed says as Violet settles into her chair.

Violet almost laughs, that sentence feeling like the understatement of the century. “You could say that. The last few interactions we’ve had with.. other adults have turned bad every single time. So people are a little antsy since you two showed up.”

Ed shifts on his feet, looking at Diana and getting a confirming nod as if she knows what he’s thinking. “Could we speak with the person in charge? We’d like to perhaps stay for a few days to rest.”

“You’ve been talking with them this whole time. Call me Violet.” The blonde says with a hint of amusement. They probably expected an adult to be in charge. But out here after the teachers bailed? As if. Ed only looks a little surprised while Diana looks completely shocked.

“You’re in charge?” Diana asks incredulously. “Aren’t there any teachers still here since this is a school?”

Violet scoffs. “All the teachers just left us here to fend for ourselves back in the beginning. All except Ms. Martin.”

“Where’s she now?” Diana asks a little tentative.

Violet jerks her thumb out the window in the general direction of the graveyard wordlessly. They get what she meant by it and don’t press the subject further. The blonde sits there thinking for a moment. Ed and Diana seem like decent people, but she still isn’t sure wether or not they’re just spies from Delta, or something equally worse. Violet almost gives her answer to Ed’s request for a place to stay when she hears a knock on the door.

Clementine’s slightly muffled voice comes from behind the door. “Hey Vi? Aasim told me that we let in some new people. I was wondering if I could have a moment to talk with them.”

“You don’t need to knock every single time Clem. It’s not like I’m the principal.” Violet replies. Wait, did she just make a leader joke? Damn it. She must be spending too much time around... Louis... The blonde quickly shakes her head to clear her thoughts of Louis and their previous conversation as the door opens and Clementine steps inside.

Upon seeing the blindfolded brunette, Ed freezes while Diana lets out a strangled gasp, looking like she’d seen a ghost.

“Clementine? Is it really you?” Diana says, almost a whisper.

Clementine looks confused. “Yeah... How do you know my n—“ she gets cut off as her mother envelopes her in an almost smotheringly tight hug. This only causes Violet’s confusion grow.

“I’m sorry, but do you know eachother?” Violet asks, glancing back and forth between the three of them in her confusion.

Ed doesn’t look away from Clementine as he responds. “She’s our daughter.” Everyone seems to freeze at the revelation and the room goes silent. After a minute things start to click in Clementine’s head, but she can’t believe it. She saw her parents dead. They are supposed to be dead! You don’t just come back from that. And now, the brunette can’t even see for herself if it’s really true, if it really is her parents. It doesn’t help that she can’t even completely remember what their voices should sound like from almost a decade ago.

“N-no, it can’t be.. You’re dead. You’re supposed to be dead!” Clem stumbles back out of Diana’s embrace but catches herself in the doorframe. “I saw you both dead in Savannah! You were both w-walkers and you were..”

“Clem, breath. You have to stay calm.” Violet says trying to sooth her panicked girlfriend as she moves around Diana and sits Clem down in a nearby chair, holding her hand. The blonde looks back at Ed and Diana as Clementine takes a few deep breaths. “This has always been a touchy subject for her. Is there anyway you can prove that you are who you say you are?” Violet asks carefully.

“She always loved chocolate chip pancakes on the weekends.” Ed says, thinking quickly. “Always spent as much time as possible in her treehouse making up stories. I gave her that hat before we left for Savannah on a business trip.” Clementine nods slowly, confirming each as he says them. After a moment of hesitant contemplation, the blind brunette returns her mother’s previously unreciprocated hug with one of her own. A silent moment passes and Diana pulls back to get a better look at her daughter’s face, looking so different yet so very much the same as she’d remembered.

“Clementine? Why are you wearing a blindfold? Can you even see out of it?” Diana asks as she tries to lift the blindfold from her daughter’s head. Clementine quickly grabs her wrists tightly before they can lift it far enough away to expose her terrible injury to the world.

“That’s just it. I can’t see through it.” Clem says sadly.

“Then why don’t you take it off then?” Diana asks, not realizing the blindfold’s purpose beyond that of perhaps simply being a strange fashion choice. Violet internally curses as she watches her girlfriend’s previously overjoyed expression from being reunited with her parents, turn down, filled with old agony, hopelessness and trauma. Clem looks down at her feet.

“I can’t see anything at all.” the brunette says quietly, waiting for her parents inevitably shocked reactions. She had always prided herself on her survival skills and the independence that came with them. But now?... At least she won’t have to see the looks of pity.

Ed is left at a loss for words for a moment, the new revelation taking him completely by surprise. “What?... How did it happen?” he asks with concern and veiled anger that something like this happened to his daughter. The resulting look of fury on Clementine’s face at the mention of the past event is almost enough for Ed to wish he never asked. Her tone turns to ice, filled with hate towards the girl who maimed her.

“Long story short we were attacked sometime in the last week by a group called the Delta. Lead by someone I used to consider family. They managed to capture me and I tried to escape a short time later. I was so close... so close to getting away. But then I got caught by a friend of my friends, Minerva.” Clementine says with little emotion beyond the excruciating pain and anger she felt back then. The blind brunette had already told this story to Violet, but it still manages to chill her blood with each retelling. “We fought for a short while, but she was stronger. One thing lead to another.”

The room is silent a moment before Diana breaks it tentatively. “You said this was recent? It can’t be too bad..” she says, frankly trying to give herself hope, no matter how false or short lived, more than Clementine. “Maybe after a while it could heal, you never know.”

Clementine stares in the direction of her mother with a blank expression of shock which quickly morphs into her angriest expression yet. “Maybe it could heal? Maybe it could heal?” The brunette tears her blindfold off, exposing her empty eye sockets to the painfully crisp cool air in the room. But it doesn’t stop her. “Look at what she did to me! There’s no coming back from this!” her voice louder with each sentence, “She ruined my life! Now I can’t ever shake the feeling that I could lose everything the minute I get too comfortable! I’ll never be able to truly stargaze again!” Violet’s heart aches when she hears this. “So don’t say that it’ll be ok, or that it’ll heal up fine in a week, when you don’t know a god damn thing about it!” Clem gasps for air as she sinks back into her chair spent of energy, while her parents and Violet stare at her completely stunned. The blonde had seen Clementine when she was angry before, but didn’t think she was capable of this large of an outburst. Before anyone manages to say anything else, Violet hears Ruby coming towards them from down the hall.

“What in the Devil’s name is going on in there?!” This causes Violet to stand quickly.

“That’s probably my queue to go introduce you two to the rest of the group.” Violet says as she starts ushering Ed and Diana towards the door despite Clementine’s protests. “I’ll be back once Ruby’s done with one of those “when she deems necessary” checkups Clem.”

“Ok.. I’ll be here I guess.” the brunette says quietly as they leave, seeming to be lost in her own head. Diana narrowly avoids colliding with Ruby on their way out. Before Violet can introduce the medic properly, she’d already gone into the office to solve what happened with Clementine moments ago. The blonde can only hope that her girlfriend will find some way to get past the pain of what Minnie did to her and move on. She then realizes that might not happen as quickly should the red head make an appearance again, coupled with the fact Clem still doesn’t know she may still be alive. Hopefully if Minnie avoided any Delta who may have survived... maybe a part of the girl she knew is still hidden in the ruthless soldier she’d become. Whatever the case, Violet would be there as best she can for her girlfriend and her ex. She only hoped she could stop them if they tried to tear out eachother’s throats, should the two meet again.


	6. Chapter 6

*One Day Later*

Much to Minnie’s annoyance, by now it was without a doubt multiple hours past when she and the Garcias had originally decided to head out to the school. Largely since David was adamant about scoping out the interior of the boat for any salvageable supplies on his own, ignoring Minnie’s assertion that it would take more than one person to make the trip worthwhile, and that she knew the boat inside and out. Now here she was sitting next to Gabe by the river while David is busy exploring the boat alone. Men are stupid. Exploring unknown territory is one thing, but alone? Next to David’s insufferable stubbornness and Gabe’s seeming lack of hardiness when it came to extreme survival situations, Minnie figures it would probably result in one of them being killed within three months had they not planned to return to Ericson’s. Starting to get bored of the silence, she turns to Gabe.

“What’re you thinking about?” the red head asks, sounding almost as bored as she feels.

Gabe is silent a moment before responding. “Well, now that my family’s back on the road again, I’m kinda wondering what the odds are that I’ll get to see Clementine again after it’s been so long.”

Minnie tenses in slight panic. Is he talking about the same Clementine that she knew? If so then how do they know eachother? Gabe sees the look on her face.

“Minerva, do you know Clementine?” Gabe asks, completely oblivious to the past the two of them have.

“Always wears a cap with a “D” on it?” the red head asks, to make sure they’re thinking of the same person.

“So you do know her!” Gabe says triumphantly, having guessed she knew Clementine based on her first reaction to the mention of her. “How is she? Did she find AJ?” He rattles off more questions in quick succession but Minnie stopped paying attention after the second one, rubbing her eyes and resting her head in her hands as she tries to come up with a way to talk to the brunette and Violet that wouldn’t end with herself getting injured by either of them. She probably deserved it or worse after all she’d done, but the red head felt that she had to try at least.

“Hey! Earth to Minerva!” Gabe elbows her, snapping her out of her thoughts. “Were you even paying attention? I was asking how Clem is doing... that is if you’ve seen her recently..” he says as he seems to realize that he has no clue when Minnie last saw Clem, despite it being only a few days ago. The red head grits her teeth as her mind races for a suitable answer that doesn’t expose the truth about Clementine’s current condition.

“Look, it’s complicated.. Something bad happened, and one bad thing lead to another. That’s all I’ll say.” Minnie responds, turning away to watch the constant flow of the river, signaling that the conversation is over. Gabe spends the next few minutes in silence, trying to come up with an idea of what could have happened to his crush. None of them come even close to the reality of what truly happened. Glancing over at the wreckage of the boat he sees David empty handed, climbing out of the hole he’d previously used to enter the ship. Once back on dry land he walks over to where the two sit, a semi-triumphant expression on his face.

“Well, lotta the shit I could find is completely ruined from soaking in the river so long. But, there should still be plenty left for the taking.” he says. Minnie scowls at him.

“If you’d let me join you instead of being a stubborn asshole, we could have actually retrieved some supplies and been on the road hours ago.” she says as she stands, stretching her stiff joints from sitting too long.

“Somebody needed to stand guard. This wreck is a goldmine since it’s only the four of us.” he says, crossing his arms.

Minnie looks at David as if he’s being an idiot for not thinking things through for the most effective and time efficient looting plan. “There’s enough supplies in that boat that we’ll need help to extract it all in a timely manner, my friends could help with that. Yet here we are, having wasted plenty of daylight.” Gabe glances between the two as they go back and forth. Both of their rough soldier personalities have seemed to make their clashes of opinion more frequent. Javi overhears their arguing and watches for a moment.

“How about we hit the road and you can argue to your hearts content on the way to... where exactly are we going Minerva?” Javi says trying to break up the argument so they wouldn’t have to be on the beach any longer. Minnie loses her train of thought and turns to Javi, deciding to just ignore David instead.

“It’s a.. well it used to be a boarding school. It’s pretty hidden and out of the way from any roads.” she explains.

“Sounds like if anyone were to find it it would be by complete accident.” Javi says. “You know the way, so lead on.” Minnie almost scoffs at the idea of the Delta having found the school completely by accident as she sets the pace heading off the beach into the trees. There’s no way that Delta could have accidentally found them, and convinced Marlon to let her and Sophie be taken in such a short span of time. David falls into step by Minnie.

“Your friends, how many of them are there?” he asks. The red head considers continuing ignoring him but ultimately decides it’d be next to pointless.

“I’m not a hundred percent sure after all the shit that’s been happening recently, but last I knew they were in the single digits.” she says as she quickens her pace slightly so she won’t have to listen to David’s questioning, definitely not in the mood to be talking with him. David eyes Minnie’s backside suspiciously, beginning to believe the red head is hiding something. He falls back past Gabe and next to Javi who had been at the back of the group, hopefully out of earshot of Minerva.

“That girl is hiding something big Javi. I can tell that she hasn’t told us the whole story about this “Delta” group.” Javi glances at David skeptically.

“She seemed to be pretty descriptive when we were last talking about it. But even if you’re right, she has the right to her secrets as you do to yours.” Javi replies, clearly starting to get tired of David and Minnie’s head butting over sometimes the smallest of things. David looks at Javi with an expression that screams that Minnie’s secret very much could put all of them at risk, which is more important than the unspoken yet rarely followed societal rules about one’s privacy. “David, for all we know it could mean absolutely nothing to us, and have no effect on us in any way.”

“Or it could get one or all of us killed if it stays hidden away for too long.” David shoots back. “I’ll do whatever I have to do to protect you and Gabe.”

“And while I appreciate that, we shouldn’t risk making more enemies than we already have.” Javi says exasperatedly. “Joan is still out there and we have no clue where she and her band of soldiers are, or when they might pop up again. We need all the friends we can get.” 

“She told me that her group is in the single digits. Won’t make much of a difference if she somehow finds us.” David says matter of factly.

“My point still stands.” Javi replies. Silence falls over the group as they push on through the woods. They meet a few lone walkers here and there, they never had a chance in hell against the four seasoned survivors. After a while the front gate of the school comes into sight and Minnie can’t decide to dread or be happy about their arrival as she recognizes Violet on guard duty. As they get close to the gate, the blonde looks almost shocked to see Minnie alive and actually back home. She climbs down from the guard tower and opens the gate, walking out to meet them. Violet and Minnie look at eachother silently a moment. The former’s expression unreadable, while the latter’s is filled with uncertainty and regret. None of the Garcias move to break the silence as Minnie takes a quick breath.

“Violet, I’m so sorry for everything. I—“ she gets cut off as the blonde hugs her.

“I’m still mad at you, but for now, I’m just happy that you’re still alive.” Violet says as she pulls back from her hug, smiling slightly.

“Can you.. ever forgive me?” Minnie asks in a voice tinged with emotion and uncertainty. The blonde seems to contemplate her request for a second.

“I can’t forgive you yet, I just need some more time. But I don’t think it’s my forgiveness that you should be worried about.” Violet replies. Minnie nods in grim understanding, knowing that Clementine’s forgiveness will be extremely difficult, if not nearly impossible to gain. Violet finally notices the Garcias standing there a short distance behind Minnie.

“Who’re these people Minnie?” the blonde asks, tensing slightly. Clem’s parents showing up had been brushed off Violet’s “trouble” radar, but more adults showing up in such a short span of time was a bit unnerving to her. Javi takes that as his queue to introduce himself, stepping forward.

“Hi um.. this is my brother David and nephew Gabe. I’m Javier, but people call me Javi.” he says carefully, hoping to not come off sounding like a threat. A sliver of recognition crosses Violet’s face.

“Javier... Garcia? Weren’t you a famous baseball player back in the day?” she asks, remembering the small amount of things Clem had told her and Louis about him. Javier looks a little surprised that somebody recognizes him, much less that he used to play baseball almost more than a decade ago. Violet walks back inside the gate and beckons for the four of them to follow her in. David lets out a low whistle when he sees the sheer size of the school. With enough people to defend it, it could be a fortress unlike many others out there. As Violet leads them over to the picnic tables, Javi notices only a few other people in the courtyard. A man and woman talking to a boy with a large book in his lap, and a boy in a trench coat playing cards with another boy. Putting aside the fact there were probably other people inside the building, these people really were in the single digits.

“I’m Violet by the way, sorry for not introducing myself when we first met.” she says as they all take seats. Javi shakes his head dismissively.

“Um, Violet? How is it exactly that you know me?” Javi asks curiously. “I didn’t think a lot of people would remember my old baseball team. Especially now a days after so long.” The blonde almost rolls her eyes.

“I haven’t watched even half a game of baseball my entire life. That game sucks ass.” This only makes Javi even more confused.

“If you didn’t watch baseball, then how do you know my uncle?” Gabe asks, looking the slightest bit peeved that someone would take a shot at his uncle’s favorite sport.

“A friend of mine used to talk about him. Like when she first met him and nearly blew his brains out.” Violet says with a small smile. A second later it finally clicks for Javi.

“Wait, are you talking about Clementine?” he asks, surprised. By this point in time he had been beginning to think he might never see the brunette ever again. Gabe visibly perks up hearing that.

“Does that mean that Clementine is around here somewhere?” he asks, unable to keep a small amount of excitement out of his voice. Violet notices that and frowns slightly, remembering when Clem had talked about some dude she’d previously liked, and this was probably him. She then decides to make it her goal to ensure that Gabe knows that Clementine is hers sometime in the near future. Sure it was probably a selfish move on her part, but she’d be damned if she lost another girlfriend. Her heart couldn’t take the same terrible beating a second time.

“Yeah... she’s here.” the blonde says hesitantly. Javier notices her hesitation almost instantly.

“Did something happen to her?” he asks, the signs of when the Delta last attacked the school still around them confirming his initial suspicions that something bad happened. Violet glances at Minnie, who almost imperceptibly shakes her head to not tell the Garcias, a look of almost fear flashing across the red head’s face. Violet sighs, at least for now, for Minnie’s sake, she’d tell the truth as vaguely as possible. Not wanting to kill the revival of their relationship turned friendship. Wait... she doesn’t know about herself and Clem yet, does she? Fuck, things are going to get super complicated fast.

“We were attacked a few days ago. Assholes took Clem and two more of my people. She didn’t make it out in one piece.” Violet says sadly. “She’s back on her feet but..” she trails off, not sure how to explain it. Javi grimaces when he hears it.

“So whatever it is is really that bad?” he asks carefully. Violet nods and stands up from her seat.

“Just.. when you see her, don’t question her about it too much. It upsets her easily.” she says.

“When could we see Clem then?” Gabe questions, not really wanting to wait longer to be able to see the brunette again. Violet shrugs slightly.

“I’m going to check on her now actually. If she’s up to it we’ll come find you guys. Hey Minnie? Think you could introduce these three to the others in the meantime?” Violet asks.

“Yeah, yeah. I can do that.” the red head says, clearly relieved for something else to do that doesn’t concern the topic of Clementine. With that, Violet stands and Minnie watches her walk off into the dorm building. Once the blonde is inside she turns to the Garcias. “So, who would you like to meet first?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Afk for long as hell cause work was so energy sapping. Now that’s over and I’ll have more time on my hands for writing. That is until school starts in 2 weeks, sarcastic yay. But a chapter almost triple my usual length is a win no matter how long it took in my book.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Violet comforts Clem in one of the few ways she can. Shortly after, Clementine reunites with the Garcias. It becomes clear that some people don’t know how to keep their mouths shut about sensitive issues, while a recent foe watches from the shadows.

As Violet nears Clementine’s dorm, she can’t help but wonder how she’d react to the news that her old friends are now here along with Minnie. Hopefully when they meet they won’t be brainless idiots and cause the reunion to go worse than the one with Clem’s parents had turned out. But first the blonde had to make sure that the brunette was even up for talking with them in the first place. Seeing her door wide open, Violet finds her girlfriend sitting on her bed, staring at the floor.

“Hey Clem, are you doing ok?” Violet asks with concern as she quietly shuts the door behind her. The brunette jumps in surprise, startled out of her thoughts.

“Vi? Sorry I didn’t hear you come in.” the brunette quickly apologizes as the blonde sits beside her.

“You left the door open.” Violet points out. Clementine’s expression seems shocked.

“I did? I... ugh.. dam it.” she says tiredly. “There’s just too much on my mind right now.” Clem pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs. Violet can almost tell that the prior years of survival her girlfriend had suffered through were finally starting to weigh her down, showing through the cracks in her usually happier demeanor.

“I know how you feel in a way. Like those days where all the shit is just.. a lot harder to deal with than normal.” Violet says softly.

“It’s a little difficult to describe, but after..” Clementine waves her hand in front of her face. “After that... it’s almost like I lost a part of myself, and I’ll never be able to get it back.” Violet rests her hand on her girlfriend’s.

“Even after what happened, you’re still Clementine to me, and we’re all here for ya. If you ever need someone to talk to...” the blonde gets cut off as Clem hugs her, trembling slightly as she softly cries into Violet’s shoulder. She was beyond grateful that she’d never have to be alone in her suffering again so long as Violet, AJ, and everyone else was here. After a moment she pulls back with a sniff. The blonde rummages in her pocket, pulling out a button and placing it in Clem’s hand.

“What’s this?” the brunette asks, slightly confused as to what now rests in her palm.

“I made if for you a few days ago. It’s a button that looks like the night sky.” Violet says, smiling softly. “So you never forget that night.” Clem smiles at the memory, still able to picture it in detail.

“I never will.” she replies. After a moment of fiddling, she succeeds in pinning the button to her jacket. The two sit in silence, glancing at eachother until Violet finally breaks it.

“Have you ever danced with anyone before?” she asks, almost sounding shy about it. Clementine thinks on the sudden question a moment.

“No, I don’t think I have.” the brunette responds, never having really thought about it before.

“Do you.. wanna?” Violet asks, sounding like she’d regained some of her temporarily lost confidence. She stands and faces her girlfriend. “Just us, no one else around. I figured it’d be a nice way to get our minds off of everything for a bit, and it’s always been something I’ve wanted to try.” The brunette stands, smiling faintly as they take two steps backwards to the middle of the room.

“You know I can’t dance right?” Clem says with a hint of worry. “I’d hate to be stepping on your feet.” 

“Heh.. We can just make it up as we go, and I’ll make sure to be careful.” Violet replies reassuringly. She guides the brunette’s hands to her shoulders and rests her own on Clementine’s hips. The two start to sway back and forth with the beat of the soundless music. In this moment, here dancing with Violet, all thoughts of the Delta, Lilly, Minerva, they all left the brunette’s mind. She leans in, embracing Violet and rests her head on her shoulder as they continue to dance. For the first time ever since the incident, Clementine felt at peace, and.. loved. At first it had been Lee, Luke, then Kenny, who’d loved her like family. But Violet was completely different. After Kenny’s sacrifice to allow the brunette and AJ to live on, Clem had devoted every inch of her time towards the survival of AJ and herself, having no time to really think about her nonexistent love life. Now, after all that time and after everything, she finally felt wanted. Clementine raises her head looking at the blonde holding her close as they slow to a standstill, watching each other’s faces.

“Thanks for the dance Vi. That.. really helped me.” Clem says softly.

“Anytime. It was nice.” the blonde replies. Thinking, Clem remembers something Louis had said on the hunting trip with Aasim a while ago. Something to do with living in the moment, since you don’t know if you’d see tomorrow. For once, especially now, Louis’s advice didn’t sound as dumb as it had back then. If she was going to tell Violet what she truly meant to her, might as well be here and now.

“Hey Violet?” the brunette asks, gathering her courage.

“Yeah?” came the blonde’s reply. Clementine takes a short breath. Results be damned if this went south. But if it did, what else could she lose?

“I...” she gets cut off by a knock on the door, and the moment is broken just like that, leaving the brunette flustered and mildly pissed off at whoever had killed her chance to confess her love for Violet. The door opens and Louis barrels in, completely out of breath.

“Clem! We gotta go to the courtyard ASAP!” he says with urgency, going a mile a minute as he tries to catch his breath.

“Woah, slow down and speak english Louis. What are you talking about?” Clem asks, a sliver of her annoyance at the musician’s interruption slipping into her tone.

“An old flame of yours said that if I didn’t drag you out there to say hi that he’d burn all of my playing cards and chop my precious piano into firewood.” Clementine stands in confusion as she tries to wrap her head around what Louis just said.

“What?.. Old flame?.. Do they happen to be wearing a beanie that looks too big for their head?” the brunette asks. Violet looks at her girlfriend in confusion but then realizes Louis is talking about Gabe. The same realization dawns on Clementine a second later. “You mean Gabe? Is he here?” Louis nods.

“Yeah, him and his dad and uncle.” he says. Given how poor Clementine’s luck in the past had been, it astounded her that more people she used to know had somehow managed to locate her. Less than a day after her parents even.

“I’d actually stopped by to see if you felt like handling a reunion with them.. after how the one with your parents ended.” Violet adds. Clementine was certainly happy with the chance to reunite with old friends just outside the dorm building, but she was unsure if she wanted to have to deal with the inevitable questioning about her blindness a second time. Seeing the unsure expression on the brunette’s face, Violet continues. “I told them not to ask about it. Unless they decide to be idiots you shouldn’t have to deal with the questions.”

“Ok, lets go then. Lead the way you two.” Clem says as Louis takes the lead towards the exit. She feels Violet slip her hand into hers and gently tug her along. If the brunette remembered anything right about Gabe, it was that if she didn’t show up then he’d likely take it upon himself to sneak off and find her on his own anyway. Clem recognizes that they’ve left the dorms when a cool breeze hits her face. She hears Louis’s typically loud running gait moving towards the... right, the picnic benches.

“Javier and David are over by the picnic benches. “ Violet says as she looks around for a certain Gabe and Minerva. “But where’s?...” The blonde doesn’t get the chance to finish her question as Clementine is blindsided by a hug, causing her to fall forwards and her mind to go into panic overdrive. She manages to albeit painfully break her fall with her arms, having nothing to grab onto. Thank god she wasn’t wearing short sleeves. Clem instinctively draws her knife, scrambling into a defensive stance and looking frantically around behind her for her attacker.

“Clem, woah woah, it’s just me! Don’t you remember me?” Gabe asks in a partially freaked out tone since she was now brandishing a knife in his general direction. He only freaks out more when he sees one of the brunette’s empty sockets glaring at him, the fall having knocked her blindfold askew. “What the hell happened to your eye?” Gabe’s voice altering between freaked out panic and concern. Clementine realizes her blindfold is out of place and quickly tugs it back into place, her grip on her knife tightening as she tries to put his question aside and forget it. But it hurt having to think about it, so god damn much. Reliving the dark, excruciating memories that came with each blind, innocent seeming question. It was almost sickeningly painful. All Clem wanted to do was punch something, go hunting, kill another walker, anything to tear the feeling of uselessness from her gut and regain a semblance of how things had once been, no matter how difficult. At least she still remembered what her friends and AJ looked like. Stiffly, she fumbles for her sheath and sheaths her knife. The brunette turns without a word to Gabe and stalks over towards the picnic tables. If Javi and David were still over there, she hoped to god and hell they’d keep quiet about the elephant in the room. Violet follows her girlfriend quickly, after leveling one of her withering death glares at Gabe, no longer in the mood to explain everything to him play by play. Clementine sits at the table that Javier and David occupy with a faint sigh, waiting for one of them to say something.

“It’s been a while Clementine.” David says slowly like he’s busy trying to piece something together. First there was everything that Minerva had said about what the Delta made their people do. Then there was the way that she’d subtly tense nervously at the very mention of Clementine. Now the blindfold tightly tied over the brunette’s eyes. It would almost take a fool to not suspect that the three were connected in some way. David had his suspicions, but only Minerva or Clementine could confirm them.

“Yeah, I guess it has.” Clem responds tiredly. She hears the table squeak slightly as Violet sits by her. A ghost of a smile crosses her face when the blonde gives her hand a squeeze under the table, but not letting go afterwards.

“Didn’t you say that you were going to come back to Richmond when you found AJ?” Javi asks, curious as to why the brunette hadn’t returned. Clem nods slightly.

“That had been my original plan but, after everything went to hell at the ranch I just knew it wouldn’t be safest to come back. For all I knew, the people who’d attacked the ranch could’ve already destroyed Richmond.” she says, remembering back to the day it happened. “After that, I just kept doing all I could to make sure AJ and I could survive, and here we are. You could say the rest is history.”

...

A little under half an hour passes in which David and Javi exchanged stories with Clem and Violet about what’d happened to them since they last met. From Richmond falling, to Clementine literally crashing into Violet’s life. Albeit they kept their relationship a secret, figuring out how to tell Clem’s parents seeming like the bigger issue.

“You still haven’t told us why you wear that blindfold Clementine.” David says, attempting to get the brunette to spill the clear story behind it and hopefully confirm or destroy his suspicions. The brunette looks down with a pained expression and clenches her fists tightly, her breath shuddering as the past memories of her being blinded invade her mind’s eye yet again. Her terrified, useless attempts to stop the clearly stronger Minerva from reaping irreparable harm on her. Every single agonizing detail on repeat. Like a broken record. Javi looks at David, his expression clear that he probably shouldn’t have mentioned it.

“David...” Javi says warningly. But before David could say anything, Clementine draws her knife and slams it into the picnic table in her anger and pain.

“Do you really want to know why I wear this David?” Clem asks in a shaking dangerously low voice as she looks up again in his general direction. Before David could respond or Violet attempt to diffuse the tension, Clementine removes her blindfold, revealing her injury to the two brothers. She could already tell from the silence that they were shocked, if not more so than her parents had been. The brunette tears her knife from the table and storms away, not wanting to hear anything else that Javi or David had to say. She was a fool to think they’d leave the topic of her blindness alone. Why couldn’t anything just feel like it could be normal? Clem wasn’t sure how much more she could take, but deep down she knew she could rely on Violet and the rest of her surviving friends to help keep her grounded.

...

Some distance away from the walls of the school lying prone in the medium tall grass, wearing the closest thing that would pass for a ghillie suit these days, Lilly watches what movements she can see through the front gate through a pair of binoculars. At this distance she was certain she could run plenty of recon without being spotted by their lookout and promptly shot. Those kids were as smart as they were tough. The sinking of her ship proved that in itself. But they wouldn’t see them coming a second time. Did they really think that she didn’t have backup just waiting to be called? She’d been surprised once, not a second time. This time there would be no mistakes, Lilly would take as many of them as possible, returning to base immediately afterwards for training and turning them to her side. Clementine had ruined everything the first time, and Lilly had the perfect plan to make her suffer for getting her soldiers killed. She reaches into her pocket, pulling free her radio.

“Everybody, stay sharp and move in. I want them alive. But feel free to shoot a few of them if they become too... troublesome.” she says. The radio crackles as a soldier on the other end responds.

“Roger that Mam. All units are closing on your position now. Johnson over and out.”

Lilly smirks as the radio goes quiet in her hand. She may have not been able to kill Clementine. So instead when she’d be through with the brunette, she’d only wish she was dead.


	8. Chapter 8

*A few hours later*

Clementine had decided to try to sleep off her mental pain, if anything just to dull the ache upon waking up. Yet as per usual, luck was ever on her side as her dreams were filled with gunfire. Delta had attacked the school again. Everything had been an exact rerun of the first attack, up until she shoved Abel off of the old stone balcony. Clem tries to climb to her feet as her vision blurs, but freezes when Lilly points the barrel of her gun between her eyes.

“You know that deep down, you could never beat me, or the Delta.” Lilly says with a sneer. “You may have won the battle, but I will win the war. And when that day comes, I will kill every last one of your friends in every way I know you fear.” Clem tries to move or attack, but her body is frozen, unable to do anything but listen. “I’ll save your precious AJ and Violet for last and they...” Lilly is cut off as the just barely mentioned blonde tackles her to the ground. But instead of their tussle over control of the gun, Violet overpowers Lilly and buries her cleaver in the older woman’s throat. As Clementine stands, her vision finally coming back into focus. The blonde turns to her and Clem almost falls again at the sight of Violet as a walker. She starts backing up as the blonde picks up Lilly’s gun and limps after the brunette just like every other walker.

“You could have saved me Clem. But you had to go and choose HIM.” Violet says sounding utterly betrayed and heartbroken. Clementine’s back hits the wall of the school by the graveyard and her girlfriend raises the gun to her forehead. “I thought I could trust you.” The gun fires multiple times and everything goes black as the brunette wakes up with a scream, Dream Violet’s last words still ringing in her ears. But why was the gun still going off? Clem takes a few breaths and shakes her head to clear her thoughts. A moment passes and another gunshot goes off making her jump. It almost sounded like it was coming from outside. Wait, that one was real. She assumes something probably happened, maybe just a misfire and she should probably go make sure everyone was ok. The brunette feels around her bedside table and puts on her weathered, well worn cap and blindfold. She leaves her dorm and makes her way towards the exit.

“Strange... it’s quiet. Almost too quiet.” Clem mutters to herself. Usually it’d never been very difficult to hear most of the going ons in the courtyard. Now it was almost deathly quiet, and usually there was always somebody out there. She almost opens the door leading outside when she hears two voices that she doesn’t recognize. Suspicious, she puts her ear to the door.

“Everyone is accounted for except Minerva and that girl with the hat.” a rough, male sounding voice says.

“Clementine. Both of them are still likely hiding somewhere around here. Find them and bring them out here alive.” a female replies authoritatively which to the brunette’s horror, she can only recognize to be Lilly. Along with the fact that only a set of double doors stood between them. She slowly backs away and quickly rushes back to her room, almost tripping over her own feet in her rush. Mind ablaze with panic and unanswered questions, Clementine quietly shuts her door and puts her ear to her door. Nothing but silence and her own breathing. No one had followed her, but it probably wouldn’t be long before the building was searched. And what were they talking about “Minerva hadn’t been located yet?!” She was supposed to be dead! Louis saw it happen... Or they possibly didn’t know she’d died, that was probably it. Clem growls to herself and shakes her head. She needed to focus and find a way to save her family, not stew on her own problems more just waiting to be caught! But what was she supposed to do anyway if she was blind as a god damn bat? Lilly seemed to hold all the cards, and all the brunette could come up with accordingly was improvise, try not to get caught, and hopefully save her family in the process without dying. Shouldn’t be too hard... ah bullshit who was she kidding? These were probably the worst odds she’d ever had. But that never stopped her before. Clementine hurries around her dorm trying to take inventory of what she has. Her knife is already on her like always. Fumbling through her desk drawers she finds AJ’s revolver. Maybe he forgot it for some reason, but she’d take whatever she could get. Clem pockets it, emergency only. Her only chance would be the element of surprise. The rest of her search for weapons turns up empty, but she didn’t think she’d have enough time for a more thorough search as she slips out into the hallway, listening intently for anything out of the ordinary. Drawing from her imperfect mental map of the school, Clementine turns and quietly slips through the halls until she runs into the end of the hall that should be closest to the front gate. The brunette feels around the wall until she finds the unlock latch to the window. After a few jerks the window opens and Clem scrabbles through mostly, before losing her grip and falling the rest of the way out onto the unkept courtyard lawn. Fucking blindness. A moment later she hears footsteps approaching and quickly crouches down behind some shrubbery, hopefully hidden well enough from view.

“Yes mam, my men are keeping an eye on the prisoners in that shack they use... Yes they can handle it. No, they aren’t getting away when we have them outnumbered this heavily.” A radio crackles faintly as the footsteps grow quieter, moving away from the brunette’s hiding spot. Inching to the side until her hand touches the cool stone of the wall and hearing no one else around, Clem makes her move. Darting forwards, following the wall until she finds the gate. The brunette winces when the gate squeaks loudly as she opens it. Not stopping on the chance she might’ve been seen, she hurries out. Clementine tries to come up with an escape plan if she even manages to reach the shack on her own. But given the shitty situation, all she can really hope to do is keep falling back on the volatility of improvisation. A few minutes of nerve grinding travel pass, Clementine jumping at the slightest sound as if it could be a Delta soldier. That shack should be just up ahead if she remembered Marlon’s map right... but if things stayed this quiet it could be a quite literal hit or miss. At that moment a twig snaps underfoot and the brunette freezes. Ahead and a little to the right a door opens and she hears the distinct cocking of a shotgun. Most likely aimed in her direction.

“Hey kid! Freeze!” a Delta soldier shouts. “Move an inch and I’ll shoot one of your friends in here.” God damn it! Did her luck have to run out now?! A radio crackles by the voice of the soldier, probably his. “Boss! Boss! We’ve got her! Get the Commander out here A.S.A.P!”

“Roger that soldier. Don’t let her out of your sight. ETA approximately three minutes. Johnson out.” Shit, that didn’t leave Clem a lot of time to work with. She still had her weapons but her only realistic chance would be if this guy made the mistake of getting too close. If she was going to do anything she had to act now. Suddenly the brunette remembers that the soldier who had passed her hiding spot back at the school had mentioned that they had the kids heavily outnumbered, making chances of being caught high at best, along with being shot. Clementine couldn’t lose anyone else, she just couldn’t. Maybe surrender was the right course of action. Live to escape and fight another day right? Three minutes pass and Clementine hears multiple pairs of footsteps approaching.

“Excellent work soldier. Feel free to take two extra ration portions when we return to base.” Johnson says, somehow still sounding all business-like. Clementine keeps still as her weapons get taken from her.

“It’s been a few days Clementine. Did you really think that we’d be beaten that easily” Lilly says. The brunette is certain that she’s smirking at her right now. ”Soldier, why did you blindfold her unnecessarily?”

“I had nothing to do with it Mam. She showed up already wearing it.” the soldier responds. Clementine feels her blindfold being pulled away and resists the urge to slap at the hand doing it.

“Well then why?...” Lilly pauses in surprise as she sees Clementine’s empty sockets glaring back at her. “Who did this to my prize recruit?” Lilly asks her two subordinates by her. Clementine answers before either of them can open their mouths.

“It seems like your soldiers made a bad habit of blinding their prisoners. Because it certainly rubbed off on Minerva.” Clem answers bitingly. This was probably the most unwelcome surprise Lilly could have possibly ever gotten out of this situation. After a moment of thought she realizes that the cause ensuring that Clementine could never be the soldier she wanted, could greatly assist her other plan to make the girl suffer.

“Johnson, bring the two mouthy ones out here” Lilly says as she grabs Clementine, gun to her back and walks her over onto the nearby small bridge crossing the stream.

“What is it you’re going to do Lilly?” Clem asks, trying to hide the slight twinge of fear in her voice. The brunette then hears what sounds like two bodies hitting the bridge.

“I’m glad you asked Clementine. I’m going to take your friends back to base so that they can begin training for combat. And you? Regrettably you’re useless to me now. You’ll be tied up and left to the walkers.” Lilly says. “But, someone has to pay for getting my soldiers killed and sinking my boat. You’re going to have to choose who will live, and the other will die. They won’t feel a thing since both of them are out cold in front of us now.” Clementine’s eyes widen in horror. This can’t be happening to her! It can’t!

“What if I refuse?” the brunette asks, a sliver of defiance in her voice.

“If you don’t choose, then they’ll both die. You wouldn’t want that right?” Lilly responds as Clem’s shoulders sag in defeat.

“Who is it?” Clementine asks at almost a whisper, dreading the answer.

“Your choices are between Louis, and Violet.” Lilly says with finality. The brunette’s blood runs cold. No... not them. They didn’t deserve this. Louis was her best friend, and Violet, she was everything to her. God please no. She couldn’t do this, but if she didn’t... A moment of silence passes and Lilly glares at Clementine impatiently. “Who’s it going to be Clementine?”

“Let Violet live... please.” Clem responds quietly, an agonized expression on her face. A moment later a gunshot goes off, making her jump slightly despite herself. “Forgive me Louis...” Clementine closes her eyes and lowers her head, her breath shuddering as she tries to keep herself from crying. “Before you leave, promise me that you won’t hurt Violet if she gets into trouble.” she pleads with Lilly, hoping that she still had an ounce of the person she once was somewhere inside her.

“It’s too late for that Clementine. She’s dead. Now you can add Violet to the list of people you’ve gotten killed.” Lilly says without a shred of sympathy in her voice. No... no... this can’t be real... Violet can’t be dead. Rage and despair threaten to overwhelm Clementine as tears well up in her eyes.

"No... this isn’t... No... Violet can’t be..." Clem’s heart is in knots and the thought of her being the cause behind the blonde’s death is too horrific to comprehend. But there’s no point in pretending it didn’t happen. The brunette’s expression is ashen now and she begins to sob. After what felt like forever, the sobbing ends and Clementine recovers from the initial shock of how her girlfriend was killed. Her breathing is ragged as she collapses to the ground, utterly defeated.

“Pack everyone up and return to base.” Lilly orders Johnson as she ties Clementine’s wrists behind her back. Dragging the brunette back to her feet, she walks her away into the trees a short distance. “Try to follow us and another of your friends will get a bullet... You brought this on yourself Clementine.” Lilly says as she starts walking away. This causes the rage simmering just below the surface in the back of Clementine’s mind to rear it’s ugly head.

“Fuck you Lilly! You can’t hide from me! I’m going to find you! When I do, you’re fucking DEAD!” Clem screams in the direction Lilly’s footsteps retreated. The brunette didn’t know if her threats would be empty in the end. But with nothing left to lose, and no one left to protect or keep her emotionally stable, Clementine would stop at nothing to put Lilly down like the monster she now was. But first she had to get back to the school, get her bindings off, and get whatever supplies she could. Maybe try to find James. If the ex-whisperer could not be found, Clementine would probably take just about anyone who wouldn’t qualify as “psychotic evil murderer.” The brunette turns in the direction she’d hopefully came from and starts walking slowly down the path, a few tears still escaping from her sockets. If she stopped moving for too long, she’d probably not get back up for a long time with her fragile state of mind. Nothing disturbed Clementine’s trek back towards the school, and that was fine by her. She didn’t want to be bothered by anything that had the potential to get in her way, as all her mind could think about was her own survival and... Violet. Clem thought the school could have been home, and it had felt like it for a time. Even more so during that night in the belltower she’d shared with Violet. Only for all of it to be wrenched away from her. Just like everything and everyone else of importance in the brunette’s life. Somehow, trouble always seemed to follow Clementine wherever she went, and people she loved always payed the price. Everyone always seemed to die for or because of her, just so she could live on. Though the thought of that tore the brunette’s already battered heart even more, she knew that she couldn’t give up. Not while some of her friends were still alive, and not when she knew that all the ghosts from her past would want her to keep fighting no matter what... Violet most of all.

“They’ll pay sooner or later Violet..” Clementine whispers to herself. “I’ll get them good for you, for everyone.” The brunette is so immersed in her grief stricken thoughts she almost walks face first into the gate. At least she’d gotten back. All she wanted to do at this point was rest, nightmares be damned. Weapons and supply searching could come later. That’s when something else comes to the brunette’s attention, the distinctive smell of smoke. Something was burning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I somehow managed to make any of you cry, I personally think of that as an accomplishment.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Might feel like a bit of a filler chapter but it was necessary. Things will be more interesting next chapter if the above sentence feels true to some people.

Following the smell of the smoke proved next to impossible since the eye watering stench was everywhere. All Clementine could think to do was find a knife to get her bindings off and then grab whatever supplies she could, listening for wherever the fire may be. In reality it would have sounded like a dumb as hell idea not locating the source of the fire first. Since the brunette could not see, and thus could do jack shit. Especially without any water. For all she knew the fire could be huge and well beyond her very limited fire fighting capabilities. Clementine walks across the courtyard and enters the dorm building where the smell of smoke lessens, almost being entirely replaced by the musty, almost comforting smell that the building had long ago adopted.

“Maybe the fire will stay away from this part of the school.” Clem muses to herself as she approaches the long hallway everyone’s rooms resided. The brunette picks a room at random, having never really had the chance to explore the other’s rooms. Partially for privacy’s sake but it wasn’t like that mattered much now. Running her hand over the walls and whatever she walks into, Clementine gets the idea that all the dorms have the same general layout. Bunks in both corners, nightstand in between, a desk on the side, and the closet in the third corner. Starting at the nightstand in her search, Clem fiddles with the drawers until they open, finding it a lot harder to rifle through them blind and with her hands tied behind her back. After finding a few drawers to be empty, the brunette grabs a handle of what she thinks is a knife, but it’s weight difference in her hand is noticeable. Carefully gliding her fingers along the flat side of the blade, getting the impression it’s a cleaver that she holds. A flash of memory crosses her mind, back when she’d first seen Violet in action taking walkers down outside the gate. The blonde’s strikes perhaps not as fluid as Clementine had seen from others before her, but graceful and experienced all the same. The brunette shakes her head and the memory fades to the back of her mind. She couldn’t think about her... not right now. Carefully, Clem wiggles the cleaver into a position that she can work with, hopefully without losing another finger and starts sawing at her bindings. 24 seconds later Clementine finally hears a satisfying snap signifying her freedom and she rubs her sore wrists. Sticking the cleaver in her back pocket, Clem turns to the closet next, carefully searching every inch she could reach. The only things that turned up were clothes, clothes, and more clothes. Did Delta take everything useful in their attack?! The brunette would have expected to find a little more. She punches the ground of the closet littered with the clothes she’d already found shoved to one side. Instead of hitting drywall like expected, Clem punches something plastic. Confused, she runs her hands over the spot she hit, picking up what felt like another shirt. A moment later the brunette realizes what she’s holding. A vest. Feeling the plastic spots and realizing that they’re simply buttons, Clementine assumes that what she holds had probably been a spare vest of Violet’s. That girl did seem to be wearing one all the time... Finding nothing in the pockets, Clem slips the vest on over her jacket. For another layer on cold nights and.. sentiments. Nothing else useful seemed to be in the room so Clementine moves on to the next one over.

...

Minnie should have known. She should have known that it wasn’t over, that Lilly would come back for everyone. But the red head had gone and assumed that maybe they’d been hit hard enough. That they’d just maybe have taken enough losses to prevent them from attacking again. Now here she was, huddled in a corner of the greenhouse with nothing but a knife, hoping against hope that she wouldn’t be found. When Minnie saw Lilly and her men advancing on the school she’d bolted without a second thought, knowing that they wouldn’t win and everyone else would be overwhelmed if they didn’t flee, by sheer numbers alone. A tactic she’d seen Lilly use multiple times in the past against camps that managed to repel Delta before. Attempt to overwhelm with larger numbers, and if that failed.. Then came the explosives. Always the smaller camps. Never the larger groups, lest they get dragged into fighting another war on top of their current one. Their enemies hadn’t posed the biggest of threats until they banded together. Then the stalemates began and the rest was history. For all Minnie knew, the Delta had taken everything from her... again. All because of the same stupid fucking war. By now she was mostly certain that things were quiet enough to venture out and come up with a plan. Minnie had to save her family. She just couldn’t let them be put through what herself and Sophie had gone through. It was too cruel. Minnie knew she couldn’t do it alone, but aside from Delta, there likely weren’t any other people around for... god she wouldn’t even know how many miles for certain. The best the redhead could come up with was get out, pick a direction and start walking. Hopefully if she ran into anybody at all, that they’d be sympathetic enough to her family’s plight to assist her in some way. Rising from her corner in a defensive stance, Minnie slowly exits the greenhouse and looks around for any sign of movement, relaxing slightly after a moment of silence. The red head considers checking the school for supplies before setting off but decides against it. Delta had won, likely taking any supplies that they could find along the way to go towards the “war effort.” Turning towards the tree line behind the greenhouse, with only her wit, survival skills, and knife to protect her, Minnie sets off into the trees. Her end goal never leaving her mind.

...

Nothing useful was left. At this point Clem doesn’t even know why she bothered trying to search the rest of the dorms. Of course they’d been picked clean, and now she’d wasted a lot of precious daylight. Feeling a mix of exasperation and severe annoyance at her lack of supplies beyond the cleaver she holds and the vest she wears. It would probably be best for her to put some miles between herself and the school before dark. The brunette would figure out shelter when that bridge would come. Exiting the dorms and pushing through the terrible smokiness of the courtyard, Clem exits the main gates and trudges into the woods. She still had heard no sound of anything burning. But she doesn’t dwell on that fact long, with the feeling that she would not return to the school again for a long time. Clementine would return, but only with her family in tow and Delta gone for good. She would not rest until that day would come, come hell or high water.


	10. Chapter 10

Travel was slow going for Clementine. Mainly because she wanted to try to keep running into trees or tripping over roots to a minimum if possible. She’d felt lucky when she came across a road. The less forest travel to slow her down, the better in her opinion. Even without being able to see it, the brunette could tell that it was almost night, as from the temperature dropping little by little. A sharp breeze blows, stinging the backs of her sockets. Clementine tears an uneven strip from her sleeve and ties it off as a makeshift blindfold to stave off the invasive wind. At least until she could find something more suitable to replace it. Clem can feel herself tiring bit by bit. But she couldn’t just stop and sleep in the middle of the road. Especially from the chance of a walker stumbling upon her. Upon that thought the brunette notices something odd. She hadn’t seen, or rather heard as many walkers around as there used to be. Perhaps they were simply grouping up and moving out of the area as they tended to do at times. But would she risk the odds? Hell no. This train of thought leads the brunette to wonder where James could be right now. Clem had tried to locate his camp back in the woods, but that attempt proved pointless now having been mostly lost when James had taken AJ and herself to it the first time anyway. She couldn’t leave finding the ex whisperer to chance. Taking chances and hoping for the best was just too dangerous with Clementine’s situation, so she continued following the seemingly endless road before her, nothing to do but keep moving, her shoulders slump in slowly increasing exhaustion. Had she looked up, the brunette could have seen a clear night sky, the stars and a rising half moon shining down on her and faintly illuminating the road ahead. Sadly it’s beauty would be forced to be reserved to the confines of the blind survivor’s dreams, should her mind let her rest from the nightmares which plagued her all too often. Gritting her teeth, Clementine increases her pace slightly. She wouldn’t let lack of sleep be the indirect cause of her demise. Having pulled plenty of all nighters before, this night would be no different. A few minutes pass when Clementine hears something from behind her approaching. The brunette pauses and listens. A vehicle, definitely large but didn’t quite sound like one of those giant armored trucks the New Frontier used. Maybe whoever the driver is would be willing to help her. Clem moves to the side of the road and waits for the vehicle to approach.

...

It was almost a surprise. The alliance between Alexandria, Hilltop and the Kingdom had given their collective the ability to save eachother from being overrun and slaughtered by the Delta and their superior numbers. But as things were now, everything they did, every trick they tried to pull ended in stalemate. Neither side quite had the strength for an all out assault to “cut off the head of the snake,” going back and forth, but neither side making any visible progress. And to Rick, the war had no end in sight. That was until he got word from a spy he’d placed within the Delta that somebody had managed to sink one of their transport ships. He didn’t know who they could be or if they would be hostile, but by now Rick was growing desperate for an edge against Delta. Hell, something that could turn the tide of the war would be godsend. That was why he had taken his R.V., being accompanied by Daryl, Maggie, and Jesus. Hoping they would be able to find these people who had somehow succeeded in an area they had failed many times before. Yet everywhere they looked turned up nothing. Rick was certain that if the people had sunk one of the Delta’s ships, they must have had resources of some kind to do it, and a camp set somewhere in the area accordingly. The hope of finding another ally against the Delta the four of them had was beginning to burn out. As was their gas. Rick was about to make the call to return to Alexandria when he spots a figure standing off to the side of the road a short ways beyond the reach of the headlights.

“Find them yet?” Daryl asks from one of the two couches the R.V. contains as it slows to a stop.

“Maybe..” Rick replies thoughtfully. “If they were Delta then they would have already started shooting or ran for the hills. Stay sharp.. just in case.” Maggie nods affirmatively, checking her gun as Jesus moves to open the door.

“Clementine? Is that you?” Jesus sounds surprised. Rick wonders if he had known them at some point in the past as he keeps listening in from the driver seat.

“...Jesus? How’re you?...” Clementine asks, her shock evident. As Jesus steps from the R.V. the brunette steps forward and hugs him. She hadn’t known Jesus very well, but just being found by someone from her past, who was still somehow alive and was still on good terms with her... It almost drove the tired survivor to tears.

“You look like you’ve been through hell.” Jesus comments, silently taking note of Clementine’s lack of a gun, exhausted posture, and her makeshift blindfold. “Why don’t you come inside where it’s at least a little bit warmer?” Nodding silently, the brunette follows Jesus back inside the R.V. without too much difficulty, keeping her hand on the wall for stability.

“This a friend of yours Jesus?” Rick asks. Clementine visibly tenses at the sudden revelation of a new unknown voice.

“Relax Clementine. Rick is with me.” Jesus says, quickly trying to prevent her from panicking. “So’re Daryl and Maggie to your left.” Rick sees the blindfold Clem wears as she looks left and right a few times. It doesn’t take him long to put enough pieces together, remembering the eye patch the Governor had had. Yet this deep into the apocalypse, Rick knew that frequently, looks could be deceiving. He makes eye contact with Daryl, the both of them seeming to have the same idea. Daryl nods, getting up and quickly disarms Clementine of her cleaver before checking her for any potential hidden weapons. The brunette tries to keep calm, but having no weapon at all in unknown territory feels unnerving to put it lightly.

“Nothing else on her cept this.” Daryl says as he sets the cleaver on the short side table.

“Daryl, is this really necessary?” Maggie asks with concern, having caught Clementine’s discomfort being without her only weapon. She had come to the same conclusion as Rick, but more pitying than out of caution.

“You know that it is when we meet new people. Even more so since the war started.” Daryl replies matter of factly.

As Rick gets up and moves to sit in the other corner of the couch Maggie is sitting he says, “Why don’t you sit down Clementine. We’re just going to ask you some questions, make sure your story checks out. If it does, then you can question us.” Clem thinks for a moment before finding her way to the couch opposite Rick. These people simply being cautious was understandable, and if she wanted their help then she’d have to trust them.

“So, how many walkers have you killed?” Rick asks, leaning back slightly.

“I’m not really sure anymore. I lost track a few years back.” Clem responds, unable to recall any precise count. Rick nods, this answer seeming to be the same for most people these days.

“Ok, how many people?” Rick asks and notices Clementine’s shift uncomfortably in her seat.

“People needing to be put out of their misery, and any who’d make it clear that they would try to kill my friends... But it wasn’t enough.” Clem says sadly. “It’s never enough, no matter what I did.”

“So you’re alone?” Daryl asks, not believing that someone could survive the entire apocalypse without some sort of assistance at some point, much less potentially blind.

“I wasn’t... not until earlier this afternoon.” the brunette responds.

“Earlier today? Did something happen to your group?” Rick asks, quickly running through a few scenarios in his head that could have happened. Walkers or raiders, or perhaps a coup?

“We were attacked again by a group calling themselves the Delta. Apparently blowing up their boat pissed them off enough to warrant an all out counter attack.” Clem says as she looks down slightly. Rick furrows his brow in thought. This girl’s group had been attacked multiple times. No, Delta couldn’t be strong enough to be at war on two fronts when the first against them had been as supply sapping as it had been.

“Attacked again? You mean you’ve been up against them before and made it out alive?” Maggie doesn’t even try to mask her surprise or skepticism. From what she’d seen in the past, Delta tended to kill as many people as they could when they attacked.

“It’s a bit of a long story.” Clem replies slowly, reluctant to go into detail. She mentally notes that these people at least know of the Delta.

“Where is your group now?” Rick asks, trying to keep the questioning on topic.

“Last I knew there had been close to fifteen of us in all. They were probably taken to whatever base Delta uses to house prisoners they’re working on turning to their side is my guess.“ Clem replies sadly. Rick nods grimly, remembering when they’d managed to take a Delta outpost bordering the Alliance’s territory, how many of the freed prisoners originally from the Kingdom had changed for the worse. Some even actively fought against their liberation, and no one quite knew if whatever had been done to their minds could be reversed.

“We’ll rescue your people Clementine.” Jesus says reassuringly. “They’ll just have to hold on until our people locate where they’re being kept.” She looks in the direction of Jesus’s voice in surprise.

“I appreciate the offer Jesus, but you shouldn’t get your group involved with the Delta. If anything you should get as far away from them as possible.” Clem advises quickly. 

“Well, it’s a bit too late for that.” Daryl replies dryly.

“What do you mean “too late?” the brunette asks in confusion.

“We’ve been at war with those people for a long time now.” Daryl replies. “Bastards don’t know when to give up.” Clementine spends a silent moment digesting this new information.

“Alright, last question.” Rick says, feeling a little uncomfortable to ask the remaining question on his mind. But he had to be sure that he wouldn’t be bringing a potential spy into their midst. “Could you take your blindfold off for a moment? We just need to be sure that, well... that you’re actually blind and not trying to fool us.” Clementine is silent a moment before letting out a pained sigh of resignation. She almost partially knew this was coming. People were too damn curious for their own good. Always wanted to know if it was true, and she couldn’t be more grateful that no one thus far had asked her how it happened beyond her friends and... Violet. Clem could almost see the blonde immediately jump in and tell Rick off with a few colorful words in typical Violet fashion when she’d get angry. The brunette pushes the thoughts of her girlfriend to the back of her mind as she unties her makeshift blindfold, letting it fall into her lap. Maggie audibly gasps and Clementine almost wishes that the couch she was sitting on could swallow her whole, getting the feeling that all eyes were on her.

“Oh my god... who did this to you?” Maggie asks, shock and pity at the severity of the sight in front of her. Having not anticipated it to be as bad as it was.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Clem says quietly, but with enough force to imply the unsaid line she did not want to be crossed. She adjusts her position and puts her feet on the couch, finished talking to these people. They fall into a subdued silence, and she’s glad the stream of questions ended at that.

“It’ll be a few hours before we get back to Alexandria. You can sleep there if you wish.” Rick says as he returns to the driver seat. The brunette gives no indication that she’d heard. As the R.V rumbles back to life, Clem feels the vehicle shift indicating the beginning of the return to wherever this “Alexandria” was located. She slowly reties her blindfold and sinks a little into the couch. As Clementine drifts off to sleep, she can’t help but feel a sense of hopelessness. If this war has lasted this long with no clear victor, how could she hope for any help at all from these people to rescue her family from the lion’s den? They probably had enough troubles trying to stay alive against Delta. This thought slowly deepens her resolve to keep fighting for those she loved. In the back of Clem’s mind, if it came to it, help and odds against her be damned for all she cared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again fellow writers amazingly I’m not dead. School life just really puts my writing time through the wood chipper if you know what I mean. Be prepared for more chapters and new separate stories sometime in the future.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic so it will be difficult to make large chapters frequently. Tags will be updated as the story progresses.


End file.
